Production of hydrocarbons



I PatentedNov. I

The'pre e. bro u t q' one" 'arbon'f ofcarbon usually been carried out in "practice'can be cla s-l t lhvention relates to aproc ss 1 tor tom: in t e molecule by conversion I H noxide with hydrogen; The methods-'accordingfto which this process has hithertoi am. 21. 260-419.! it a n 'oi'hydrocarbons mmmom than severakilrespects'. The said conversioncan be car-E byf-itwas, achievedto reduce the catalysts in the ried out firstlyas a high pressure process by em ploying pressures of-more than about-20 I atmos pheres, preferably' 'more, than '50 atmospheres,

15 atmospheres say 10. 5 or 2 atmospheres ori 'Ludwigshafen-on the -Rhine, Germany; 'yelted in the Alien-Property Custodia I r d been. "Application Fesrhar 'io; 1940, Se f frial' No.' 319,838. In Germany February 2 1,

alyst whereby,-:in .view. or its pyrophoric character, careEhas to be' takento protect the catalyst against contact with air, tor-example by keeping the catalystiin. an atmosphere-oi carbon dioxide: orsuspending it in oil.

, In; order to avoid this complicated procedure,"

itrhas already been proposed tojadd copper or pper compounds to the cobalt catalysts. Thereneighborhood of the temperature or the conver- 'sionreaction or only slightly above the latter temperature; so that, the reductionprocedure might be carried/1 out-in the reaction chamber-itself.

1 However, theactivity or these cobalt-coppercat--, I alysts and :the time during which they retain, their activity are interior-tov those of the cat,

atmospheric pressure or thereabout are employed?" r In the said high pressure process as well as "in: the low pressure process, catalysts the active sub-' T stance ofwhich is ametal oi the iron group,

are usually employed. However, whereasior the preferred, the low,

- high pressure proces's iron is pressureprocess is preierably carried out in the presence of cobalt'catalystsgalthough' the cobalt catalysts may also "dvantageously be employed 1 when working under pressures above '20 atmospheres. A iurther diflerence is that, with the I a high pressure process, which is usuallycarried out at relatively high temperatures of tor'examp1e300 to350 0., catalysts, containing the ac- I tive iron in the form of an easily reducible com- I pound, can be reduced without dimculty infthe reaction chamber itself.

Thereduction temperatures tor the catalysts alysts which contain no copper,v

, I jWelhave now i'oundthat the said mew-preach] 7 process can'advantageously .becarried out with catalysts which contain cobalt together with 8 per cent 'byweightor less (calculated with referenceto'cobalt) of;silvergas,s uch or in the form H or a compound and which have previously been "subjectedito a treatmentwith reducing gases in the reactibn vessel for the said'low pressure process at a temperature or about, or only slightly above thatemployed in said low pressure process. Thesaid catalysts very surprisingly donut show thedisadvantage oi inferior activity and m mb r-eat to the saidcobalt-copper catalysts. v The said treatment with reducing gases may be carriedout with free hydrogen or gases containingiree hydrogen. Advantageously the mixtureo! hydrogen and carbon monoxide which is hitherto employed for, the low pressure process I lie between 350 and 450 C. and they are therefore considerably higher than the temperatures actuallyemployed forthe conversion, under low to be converted into hydrocarbons may be employed for this purpose, The temperature em- 'ployed in the said reducing treatment maybe pressure, oi carbon monoxide with hydrogen.

which is'carried out between about 180, and 230 CL Inasmuch, on account of the strong-evolu- 1 tion' of heat during the synthesis reaction and further on account 01 the necessity to maintain the reaction temperature, within narrowv limits. specially designed reaction chambers areemployed which for example are traversed by apluralityfoi' cooling tubes, and which would'not stand up under the high temperature stresses occurring during the reduction of the catalysts, it is not possible to carry out both the reduction and the synthesis reaction in the same'apparaso far, the catalysts for the low pressure proc-g 1 ess have therefore been: reduced in a special rewithin the range which "is maintained in the low pressure conversion process, or at a slightly higher temperature, for example up to 250' C.

'The silver may be added in the preparation or the catalysts according to the present inven- 'tion in the metallic form or in the form of a.sil-.

yer compound or or a solution of a silver coinogo; from which the silver may be precipi- A further advantageous way forthe production or the catalyst is to precipitate the cobalt and the silver together from mixed solutions of their compounds, for example by an addition of potassiumicarbonate. i

,The catalyst according to the present invention f may' alsocontain further constituents, such as duction apparatusand subsequently the reaction I vessels have been charged with'the reduced catiron and/or, nickel andalsopromoters such as the oxides oi thorium or magnesium, or mixtures 2 r I asosnso thereon-"maybe added to the catalysts, for example in the form of easily decomposable compounds, such as the nitrates, or solutions thereof, before or after or simultaneously with the addition of the silver. Furthermore the production of the catalysts may be carried out in the presence of carriers, for example diatomaceous earth and the-,like.

The catalysts used for the synthesis of hydrocarbons from carbon monoxide and hydrogen are known to besensitive to poisons such as sulfur, and the presence of such poisons is preferably avoided in the materials I used in preparing such catalysts and in pretreating them.

The following examples will further illustrate the nature of the present inventionand in what manner the same can :be carried out in practice, but it should be understood that the invention is not limited to said examples. The percentages are by weight.

. Example 1 A potassium carbonate solution is gradually added at room temperature, while stirring, during several hours to an aqueous solution, of cobalt nitrate and silver nitrate. to which diatomaceous earth had been added. The precipitate obtained is filtered, washed and dried at .centigrade..

The dried precipitate contains about 31 per oen of cobalt and 2 per cent of silver. r

The catalyst is prepared from the dried precipi tate by a reducingtreatment with hydrogen at, j

oxide and hydrogen is passed through the said :reaction vessel under normal pressure and at a temperature of'190-centigrade. Thereby grams of liquid and solid hydrocarbons are obtained per normal cubic metre of the carbon 5.4 per cent oi thorium oxide and 2 cent 01 silver, the remaining part being diatomaceous earth, is produced in the same way as set out in Example 1. After the addition of the potassium carbonate solution the solution is, however, boiled for a short time. After reduction with hydrogen at 220 centigrade in the reaction vessel, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen ispassed over the catalyst at about 190?. centigrade and under normal pressure, whereby a yield of grams of hydrocarbons per normal cubic metre of the carbon monoxide-hydrogen-mixture is obtained.

What we claim is:

1. A process for the production of hydrocarbons with .more than one carbon atomin the molecule by cataiyticconversion oi carbon monoxide with hydrogen, under pressures less than 20 atmospheres and at temperatures within the range of 1801 to 230 C., which comprisesemployinga catalyst which contains cobalt and a substantial amount not exceeding 8 per cent by weight, calculated withreference to'the cobalt, of a substance selected from the class consisting of silver audits compoundsand which have previously been subjected to a treatment with a reducing gas in the reaction vessel employed for said catalytic conversion at atemperature oi about the 3. Aprocess tor the production of hydrocarbons I with more than 1 carbon atom in the molecule by catalytic conversion 0! carbon monoxide-with hydrogen under pressures 20 atmos pheres and at temperatures within; the range of monoxide hydrogen mixture employed. When I Example 2 A catalyst consisting of 30 per cent oi-cobalt,

180.to 230' 0., which comprises employing a catalyst which contains cobalt and l a: substantial amount not exceeding 0% by weight,- calculated with reference to the cobalt, 01 silver. 

